Two Ministers of the Finnish Government Possibly Exposed to the Coronavirus; The Government Begins Remote Work

Two ministers of the Finnish government have possibly been exposed to the coronavirus. The parliament has decided to cancel its question hour for today. The government’s virtual press conferences for Friday have been canceled. For the time being, the members of the government are working remotely.

Aino-Kaisa Pekonen, the minister of social affairs and health, is one of the ministers possibly exposed to the coronavirus. Archive picture: Tony Öhberg for Finland Today

According to the government, the ministers who may have been exposed to the virus are Aino-Kaisa Pekonen (the Left Alliance), the minister of social affairs and health, and Tuula Haatainen (the SDP), the minister of employment. They have begun self-isolating.

The ministers in question have been in the same space with a person who is suspected of being infected with the coronavirus. The person has been tested today. The result will be known in two days.

On Wednesday, the government held a meeting at the House of the Estates, where Ministers Pekonen and Haatainen were also present. The negotiations were held in different rooms linked via remote connection, but there were individual contacts between the ministers outside the meeting.

For this reason, Prime Minister Sanna Marin (the SDP) has decided that, as a precaution, all ministers will switch to remote work until at least the end of this week. The government will continue its work using remote connections.